The United States government is given a warning by the preeminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere. Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to "collect organisms and dust for study." One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona. Twelve miles from the landing...

"A group of Native American kids from different tribes presents twelve historical and contemporary time periods, struggles, and victories to their classmates, each ending with a powerful refrain: we are still here"--

"An utterly original and entertaining investigation into one of the most unrecognized but influential forces in modern American urban and social life-the humble parking spot. You may not yet realize it, but parking has a death grip on life in America. All too often, quite literally: tragically, each year many Americans are killed by their fellow citizens over parking spots. But even when we don't resort to violence, we routinely do ridiculous things...

People, places, animals, and characteristic things of Arizona are represented by the letters of the alphabet, with information about them presented in rhyme and explanatory notes.

The Hohokam built an extensive network of canals with sticks and stone hoes, but mysteriously disappeared in 1450. Later, the Pima and Maricopa Indians occupied their farmlands near the Gila River, and Maricopa took on the name of the latter. In 1858, Maricopa became an isolated little town in the middle of the desert. It served as the major stage station for the Butterfield Overland Stage Station and became a beacon of light for trappers, traders,...

Charles Trumbull Hayden built the first canal on the south side of the Salt River in 1870. Soon after, he built a store, a flour mill, and a cable ferry across the river, and he started a town. Since then, Tempe has changed from a small farming community to a lively urban center. Moreover, Tempe's residential growth has made it the seventh-largest town in Arizona.

At the foot of the Huachuca Mountains, the U.S. Army founded one of the most crucial military posts for American expansion into the southwest frontier. Soldiers had been stationed in the region for decades, but in 1877 Fort Huachuca became the symbolic cornerstone of America's western domain. The Native American word huachuca, meaning "place of thunder," described the sporadic but marvelous electrical storms in the area, but the skies would not be...

In 1905, with her marriage dissolved and desperate to find a way to feed her children, Angela Hutchinson Hammer bought a handpress, some ink, and a few fonts of type, and began printing a little tabloid called the Wickenburg Miner. In her naïveté, Angela never dreamed this purchase would place her squarely in the forefront of power struggles during Arizona's early days of statehood.A true daughter of the West, Angela, born in a tiny mining hamlet...

While working as a nurse amid the squalor of New York's Lower East Side in the early twentieth century, Margaret Sanger witnessed the devastating effects of unwanted pregnancies. Women already overwhelmed by the burdens of poverty had no recourse; their doctors were either ignorant of effective methods of birth control or were unwilling to risk defying the law. Sanger resolved to dedicate her life to establishing birth control as a basic human right....

Northwest Arizona is home to one of the most breathtaking natural wonders in the country. The Grand Canyon was formed over millions of years as the Colorado River carved through layers of rock, painting the canyon in shades of red, green, and gray. Open this book for an introduction to the geography, cities, and daily life in the Grand Canyon State.